Vaccination has conspicuously abated the spread of
infectious diseases across the globe. However, the importance of vaccination,
especially in developing and underdeveloped countries is exceptionally great,
given the fact that the risks of contracting contagious diseases like
Diarrhoea, Hepatitis, Typhoid etc. are alarmingly high in such economies.
The eradication of Smallpox and Polio are a stark reminder
of the defensive power of vaccination against baneful communicable diseases in
developing countries. However, despite such impressive achievements, a few
seminal problems and challenges still remain unaddressed.
Common Challenges and Roadblocks
Economic Crises
The economic crises in developing countries act as the
biggest deterrents on the way to maintaining the quality of citizens’ health.
Owing to the depreciating currencies and lack of governing commitments,
the immunization coverage and people’s ability to avail of vaccines fall
flat in many parts of such countries.
Unavailability of
Vaccines
In many parts of developing countries, vaccines against some
of the most common and communicable diseases like Typhoid, Malaria and Dengue
still remain unavailable. The reason directly owes to infrastructural and
logistical challenges. Also, the point explained in the preceding paragraph
acts as one of the reasons.
Research Inhibitors
Despite the success rate of vaccination, the need to better
the existing vaccines still remains a point of concern. Most of the current
vaccines were developed by determining the components that consistently
stimulated antibody responses in infected patients, and often without having a
very detailed knowledge of the immune mechanisms required for protection. A lot
of vaccines were simply formulated with aluminium hydroxide as the adjuvant and
are administered by injection.
Although such approaches have been evidently effective in
many cases, unfortunately, they have been proven completely inadequate for
several important pathogens.
As it is, developing countries have weak surveillance,
limited data on diseases, and poor scientific base which consequentially
culminate into a major roadblock on the way to medical research. Hence,
discovering better vaccines for diseases is still a distant dream for such
countries. However, with a helping hand from developed economies and
responsible corporate this situation can be addressed to a great extent. After
all everyone deserves a shot at life!
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